Hungary will begin the process of withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), its government said Thursday, just hours after welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is subject to an ICC arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called the warrant “brazen, cynical and completely unacceptable,” arguing that the court has lost legitimacy by targeting a democratically elected leader engaged in self-defence.
Netanyahu arrived in Budapest for a state visit, invited just a day after the ICC issued the warrant in November.
The Israeli leader has long found a steadfast ally in Orban, who has previously blocked European Union actions critical of Israel.
Hungary, a founding member of the ICC, ratified the Rome Statute in 2001.
However, Orban’s government has argued that the treaty was never transposed into domestic law, and thus carries no legal obligation to execute the warrant.
Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas confirmed Thursday that the government will formally launch the exit process later in the day.
A bill is expected to pass easily in Hungary’s parliament, dominated by Orban’s ruling Fidesz party.
The move follows US sanctions imposed on ICC prosecutor Karim Khan earlier this year by President Donald Trump. Orban had referenced those sanctions in February, saying Hungary should reconsider its participation in a body targeted by its allies.
The ICC accused Netanyahu and Israel’s former defence chief of crimes including murder, persecution, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war.
Gaza’s health authorities report over 50,000 Palestinian deaths since the Israeli offensive began. The ICC has also issued a warrant for a senior Hamas leader, whose death was later confirmed.
Since then, the Israeli campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and devastated the Gaza Strip, triggering protests worldwide and prompting South Africa to launch separate legal action in the International Court of Justice, a different body to the ICC, accusing Israel of genocide.
Netanyahu visit Hungary
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu begins a four-day visit to Hungary on Thursday, defying an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza as Israel has expanded its military operation in the enclave.
As a founding member of the ICC, Hungary is theoretically obliged to arrest and hand over anyone subject to a warrant from the court but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made clear when he issued the invitation that Hungary would not respect the ruling.
Netanyahu, who is battling a political storm at home over an investigation into suspected ties between Qatar and three of his aides, is due to meet Orban ahead of a press conference at around 1000 GMT.
Netanyahu has rejected the accusations regarding his aides as “fake news”. A Qatari official has dismissed the accusations as part of a “smear campaign” against Qatar.
The visit will be only the second he has made abroad since the International Criminal Court issued warrants to arrest both him and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant last November, but details of his programme have been limited apart from a planned visit to a Holocaust memorial.
